BY DELISA THWALA
MANZINI- Polling stations at Mavuso Trade and Exhibition are already set for the Special voting and as it seems no one should be left behind.
Mavuso Trade Centre is currently a hive of activity as the number of people coming in to ‘special vote’ is adding up.
So far over 300 people have queued and gathered for the special voting that will go on for the rest of the day.
Worth mentioning is that Chiefdom clerks received an intensive training ahead of the big day. As special voting is qualifying, electorates will cast their votes for their preferred candidates today.
Special voting allows a registered voter who cannot vote at their voting station on election day to vote on a predetermined day before official election day.
This is according to Section 46 (5) of the Elections Act, 2013 reveals that the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) shall provide for a special voting procedure for electoral officers, staff and security personnel, who are on duty on polling day.
Meanwhile EBC Communications Officer Mbonisi Bhembe confirmed the smooth sailing process of the special voting today, stating that the exercise would be uniform with the secondary elections slated for this coming Saturday as the votes would be counted at the polling stations after the special voting, as entailed in the Elections (Amendment) Act, 2023.
He said going to the special voting exercise, participants should be reminded of Section 16 of the Elections and Expenses Act 2013, which provides that the following persons shall be deemed to commit unconscionable funding within the meaning of this Act:
(a) A person who corruptly, through that person or through any other person, either before, during or after the nomination process or election, directly or indirectly gives, or provides, or pays, wholly or in part, the expense of giving or providing food, drink, entertainment or provisions to or for any person, for the purpose of influencing that person, or any other person, to vote or to refrain from voting at that nomination process or election.
The Elections and Boundaries Commission is mandated by sections 90 to 92 of the Constitution of Eswatini to manage the country’s elections.
This mandate speaks to a number of processes, activities and programmes undertaken in preparation for a General election. The processes are based on the election cycle – pre- election, election and post.
More updates will follow as stay tune!!
📸 Pictures sourced from Eswatini Observer
